FamilyCord Unveils Safer and More Effective Cord Blood Collection Kit

Quality Control and Stem Cell Viability are Key to Effective Cord Blood Storage

March 2, 2010 – FamilyCord, a subsidiary of California Cryobank, is leading the charge in the private cord blood banking industry for safer, more effective collection kits. FamilyCord’s state-of-the-art collection kit is refefining the scientific standards for collection and transport employed by the cord blood banking industry.

“Cord blood banking is an invaluable asset in protecting the health of your family,” President Richard Jennings explains. “However, to maximize the stem cell collection, proper collection and handlings of the cord blood is a key factor.”

FamilyCord’s newly engineered collection kit is OSHA compliant and offers multiple benefits over the traditional “cardboard” kits, including built-in temperature stabilization that provides up to ten hours of protection against severe temperatures (versus the 30 minutes of protection offered by most collection kits), and a reinforced hard foam liner that provides more than 4 times the crush protection of standard kits. Considering most cord blood is shipped via air-couriers to processing labs and storage facilities, both these variables can make all the difference in the future viability of the collected stem cells.

FamilyCord’s new kit also utilizes liquid CPD anticoagulant in the collection bag, which provides up to 58% more CD34+ stem cells than using the dry heparin (American Society of Hematology, 2009) and does not carry the historical risk associated with heparin drug recalls.

“As more and more families continue to take advantage of storing cord blood, it is imperative that we as an industry do everything we can to make sure that investment is protected,” says Jennings. “The hope is you will never need to use the cord blood stem cells, but if the time should ever come that you do, those first few steps in the collection process can make all the difference in the world.”

Media contact: Scott Brown (310) 496-5681

Founded in 1997, FamilyCord is a subsidiary of California Cryobank, one of the most successful and experienced reproductive tissue storage facilities in the world. FamilyCord is registered with the FDA and accredited by the AABB (American Association of Blood Banks). For more information, call 888-828-2673.